The Rock's Daughter, Simone Johnson, Clapped Back At Haters Who Criticized Her Professional Wrestling Name

Rising star Simone Johnson, daughter of wrestling legend Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson, signed with WWE in 2020 and has finally revealed her professional wrestling name. Instead of support, many fans of her father expressed disappointment that the name wasn't a nod to her father's.

Many fans used the opportunity to criticize Johnson and her name choice, and some even offered what they thought the wrestler should have chosen. Johnson responded to several comments and made it clear that her wrestling name was her choice and that she didn't have to relate to her father's name to be a wrestler. Read on to find out more.

In 2020, the WWE announced on its website that Johnson had begun training to become a WWE star at its performance center in Orlando, Florida. In the statement, Paul "Triple H" Levesque, an executive VP for WWE, said, "Simone Johnson's unbridled passion and incredible drive has earned her a coveted spot training with the elite athletes from around the world at the WWE Performance Center." 

In her own statement, Johnson said that the training opportunity meant "the world" to her. She said, "To know that my family has such a personal connection to wrestling is really special to me and I feel grateful to have the opportunity, not only to wrestle, but to carry on that legacy."

She also posted a picture of her wearing an official WWE shirt, with the caption, "To the little girl who fell in love with wrestling & said "this will be my life one day," this is for you. I'm humbled, grateful & ready to work. Let's do this." However, Johson was forced to delay her WWE debut due to a knee injury.

Two years after announcing her training, Johnson revealed on Twitter that she had chosen to be known as "Ava Raine" in the ring. While many people were happy for her and showed their support, many more wrestling fans expressed disappointment that she had chosen a name unrelated to her father's wrestling name, "The Rock."

https://twitter.com/TheLouisDangoor/status/1530972310890504197?s=20&t=04CBRQo5m_oEkf82IPklxg

One critic tweeted, "Giving Simone Johnson, the daughter of THE ROCK, a new name is completely nonsensical. Will hold (judgment) until she debuts, but if WWE doesn't acknowledge her dad is The Rock that's ridiculous."

Many more wrestling fans offered their advice on what they considered an appropriate selection of names that Johnson should have chosen for her WWE moniker, such as "The Pebble" or "Little Rock."

Johnson wasted no time in fighting back against the haters and responded by retweeting a tweet that pointed out how funny the comments were. She also posted a Google search of several types of rocks and captioned it, "nothing in this category please xx." It was pretty obvious that the 20-year-old was tired of the jokes.

https://twitter.com/AvaRaineWWE/status/1531030766334922753?s=20&t=04CBRQo5m_oEkf82IPklxg

However, her efforts only doubled the criticism and eventually, Johnson had to address it directly to get people off her back. She tweeted, "I probably sound like a broken record & hopefully this is the last i'll mention this but i don't understand why people being portrayed as separate individuals from their family name is such a heated topic."

She continued with, "A name doesn't discredit any prior accomplishments from any family." In a subsequent tweet, she added, "I could build my entire career around my father & people would still bash me anyway."

When Johnson debuts, she will become the first fourth-generation wrestler in WWE history. Her father was a legendary 10-time WWE world champion before he moved into the film industry. Her grandfather, Rocky Johnson, and great-grandfather Peter "High Chief" Maivia were also legendary wrestlers in the WWE Hall of Fame.

In the statement WWE posted on their website when Johnson began training, Levesque also said, "Not only does Simone now have an opportunity to cultivate and display her passion for WWE within the Performance Center, but she'll carry on the tradition of her incredible family lineage while creating her own impact as WWE's first fourth generation Superstar."